Disabled Delgado Community College students are saying they are not getting the services they need, claiming the school's Office of Disability Services isn't helping them out like it should.

Several students spoke to WDSU but didn't want to use their names for fear of retaliation.

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"I had honors in the past. I never had problems in school until my return this semester," said one student WDSU is calling "Sally." She suffers from hearing loss, post-traumatic stress disorder and comprehension issues.

There are 179 students with disabilities out of nearly 16,000 students at Delgado. Some of them have needs similar to Sally's.

"In order to get special assistance like note-takers, stenographers, sign language interpreters or captioners, they must go to the Office of Disability Services and also provide documentation from their physician showing they are entitled to these services," said college spokeswoman Carol Gniady. "Then the school assesses their needs to decide which assistance is best."

But Sally says she didn't get a note-taker until several weeks into the semester.

"And when I started asking, questioning higher-ups, my issues -- they weren't really addressed. I kind of like, got ignored. And I was really getting panicked," said Sally.

And she isn't alone. A sophomore WDSU is calling "John" suffers from ADHD, vision impairment and hearing loss. He said he also had problems getting a note-taker.

"It caused me to be frustrated, because I knew I was missing some things that I really needed," said John.

He's been taking classes at Delgado since Katrina.

"After dealing with disability services at different schools in different states, I have never seen a facility as bad as this," said John.

He said things really went downhill for him when captionist Kerry Wolf left. Wolf said she was fired in October after 10 years on the job.

"The coordinator that recruited me was amazing. She was on top of everything and she understood what it took to be a service provider," said Wolf.

But Wolf said after the storm, disability services changed drastically.

"Demand became greater. I was being asked to do unpaid work. I was being asked to work back-to-back assignments with no breaks," said Wolf.

Wolf said there is now no coordination or communication between service providers and students. She reported her concerns to superiors.

"It was a closed-door meeting. They were yelling at me and basically telling me I had no rights, that I wasn't entitled to any of the assistance that I was asking for," Wolf said. "And that it really wasn't my business what was going on with my clients."

Sally said she got the same treatment when she went to disability services.

"I got hollered at, screamed at, humiliated," she said. "I felt like I was really being discriminated against over my disabilities. Instead of being looked at as a panic attack or post-traumatic stress disorder, they turned it into rudeness, or sarcasm."

While Delgado officials could not comment on any individual case, they would say the college is providing "reasonable accommodations" outlined by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"What's really interesting is we are mandated by federal law to provide disability services to our students, but we are not funded for those services," Gniady said.

Delgado has two paid note-takers plus volunteer note-takers, seven paid sign language interpreters and six paid stenographers. The college has no captionist at this time.

The school said grievance procedures are outlined in a handbook given out at orientation. But disabled students WDSU spoke with said they never got the handbook until a couple months into the semester.

"And by that time I got way too far behind. Rather than to fail because of not having papers in, I just went ahead and dropped three of the four classes," said Sally.

Gniady said the college is sensitive to these issues.

"We appreciate being made aware of this issue. We haven't had any formal complaints, but it's on our radar. There are processes in place. Perhaps we can look to make sure they are promoted more heavily," she said.

Delgado is now looking at developing an anonymous portal on its Web site where students can make remarks and suggestions. Officials think it would help in cases like this where people have a grievance or problems and fear retaliation.

When it comes to disability services at other colleges in New Orleans, here's what WDSU found: Tulane has 600 students receiving services. There are 30 note-takers working with 50 students and three captionists. Xavier, a smaller school, has 37 students receiving services. There are no note-takers.